Cupertino Store
Wow Cool Alternative Comics’ shop in Cupertino, California closed its doors at the end of April 2019 after a 5+ year run. Thank you to everyone who supported us in our first brick and mortar venture. We continue to operate at WowCool.com
Bleeding Cool article on the store closing
liveMint article by VR Ferose on zines and the Wow Cool shop
Wow Cool was featured in this article on Cupertino businesses
Wow Cool profiled in Content Magazine Issue 6.4
Wow Cool was a “Cool Secret Place” on KFJC 89.7FM’s
Norman Bates Memorial Soundtrack Show
“A comic shop in California which apparently has a bizarrely high IQ.”
— Tom Ravenscroft, BBC 6Music
Wow Cool | Alternative Comics was a small bookstore and newsstand specializing in art and comics located in the historic Monta Vista neighborhood of Cupertino in west Santa Clara County. We offer Comics, Books, Vinyl Records, Zines and more from a wide range of independent and local artists. Featured publishers include Alternative Comics, Top Shelf Productions, Koyama Press, Ad House Books, NoBrow, PictureBox, Drawn & Quarterly, Last Gasp and Fantagraphics. We have the largest selection of self-published and micro publisher comic books in Silicon Valley; including hard to find books by Michael DeForge, Kate Beaton, Gabrielle Bell, Brandon Graham, Jesse Jacobs, Brian Chippendale, Hellen Jo, Matt Furie and hundreds of others.
Connect with us:
The store shared space with the two companies that give it their names: Alternative Comics – publisher of cool creator-owned comics and graphic novels since 1993; and, Wow Cool – multiple media studio and mail-order house in operation since 1988.
Our store mural was painted by Tom Hart – creator of Hutch Owens and director of SAW – the Sequential Artists Workshop. The painting portrays various characters from early Alternative Comics published books, including Magic Whistle by Sam Henderson, Slowpoke by Jen Sorensen, Detour by Ed Brubaker, True Swamp by Jon Lewis, Urban Hipster by Greg Stump and David Lasky, Quit Your Job by James Kochalka and Yikes by Steven Weissman.
Our psychedelicatessen also carries a variety of current magazines including Juxtapoz & Hi-Fructose. There are many other items that are only available from us here, including rare and out-of-print art books, used manga and science fiction paperbacks, posters and prints, books signed by the author and much more. We also have the World’s Most Awesome Bargain Bins™.
We don’t just carry comics. There is also a large selection of zines and other books that don’t have quite so many pictures in them. The shop stocks the latest issues of Cometbus, Doris, King Cat and many other zines. We also offer back issues and collections of those zines and others, including Scam, Ben Is Dead and Dishwasher. Dig a little deeper and you will find small press offerings from the likes of Neil Gaiman, Michel Gondry and Robert Crumb.
The store was also an art gallery. the walls are covered floor to ceiling with posters, prints and drawings by dozens of artists, including limited screen prints by James Kochalka, Aaron Renier, Jason Shiga, Hellen Jo, Brian Ralph, Chuck Sperry and Bryan Lee O’Malley.